# AI Agents for Workflows Canonical URL: ## Overview AI agents are a new class of artificial intelligence tools that can plan, act, and adapt across multiple steps to complete tasks. As these tools become more common in workplace technology, organizations are increasingly exploring how they fit into real workflows. This course offers a practical, no-code introduction to agentic AI for professional settings. Participants will learn what AI agents are, how they differ from traditional automation and chatbots, how they work at a high level, and how to evaluate whether a tool is right for a specific workflow. The course also explores the current agentic AI landscape, permission models, security considerations, lifecycle management, and workforce readiness, with an emphasis on evaluation, oversight, and informed decision-making rather than coding or technical development. ## What you'll learn - Explain what AI agents are and how they differ from automation, chatbots, and decision-support tools. - Describe how agentic tools work at a high level, including the AI model, planning loop, tool access, and containment boundaries. - Evaluate whether a specific agentic tool is appropriate for a given workflow using a structured framework. - Identify risks, limitations, and operational warning signs associated with agentic AI systems. - Apply human oversight models and governance frameworks to agentic tool use. - Assess organizational readiness for deploying agentic tools. - Recognize security considerations specific to agentic tools, including prompt injection and permission models. ## Curriculum #### Module 1: Understanding AI Agents - What AI agents are and how they differ from automation, chatbots, and decision-support tools - Core characteristics of AI agents: goal-driven behavior, multi-step execution, autonomy, and context-awareness - The agentic AI landscape today: desktop agent tools, enterprise agent platforms, developer tools, and AI assistants with tool access - How agentic tools work under the hood: the AI model, planning loop, tool access, and containment boundary - Live demonstration of an agentic tool performing a multi-step government workflow task - Human oversight roles: human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-in-command - Common misconceptions and key risks, including prompt injection - Current federal AI policy direction and its implications for government agencies #### Module 2: Evaluating Agentic Tools for Government Work - The evaluation mindset: understanding the workflow before evaluating the tool - Identifying agent roles in a workflow: intake, analysis, recommendation, and escalation - The Agent Evaluation Blueprint: goal, trigger, inputs, actions, boundaries, and oversight - Permission models and data access: folder-level vs. organization-wide, network access, and least privilege - Prompt injection: what it is, how it works, and why agentic tools are uniquely vulnerable - Questions to ask before saying yes: a practical pre-approval checklist - Hands-on activity: evaluate a realistic agentic tool proposal for a government workflow #### Module 3: Where Agentic Tools Fit — and Where They Don't - Appropriate use cases: case triage and routing, document analysis and extraction, internal coordination, and monitoring and alerts - High-risk or inappropriate uses of agentic tools in government - Operational risks: over-automation, over-reliance, and rubber-stamping - Drift: data drift, concept drift, and objective drift — and how to detect them - Early operational warning signs that an agentic tool may be failing - Hands-on activity: red team a deployed agentic tool scenario to identify risks and recommend action #### Module 4: Governing Agentic Tools in Your Organization - Why governance is essential — and why no centralized federal AI regulator is coming - Governance vs. technical controls: policies, oversight bodies, and accountability structures - Legal, ethical, and procurement considerations: FedRAMP, ATO, vendor data handling, and records retention - Security for agentic tools: access controls, prompt injection defenses, anomaly monitoring, and incident response - Lifecycle management: design, pilot, deploy, monitor, update or retire — including regulatory sandbox alignment - Performance monitoring and metrics: accuracy, override rates, equity indicators, and user satisfaction - Workforce readiness and change management: role clarity, training on tool limitations, and avoiding fear and over-trust - Deployment readiness checklist: a practical gate review before any agentic tool goes live - Hands-on activity: conduct a readiness gate review for a proposed agentic tool deployment ## Schedule - Jul 13, 2026 8:00am–12:00pm — Live Online - Aug 17, 2026 1:00pm–5:00pm — Live Online - Sep 23, 2026 1:00pm–5:00pm — Live Online - Oct 20, 2026 8:00am–12:00pm — Live Online - Nov 10, 2026 1:00pm–5:00pm — Live Online - Dec 1, 2026 8:00am–12:00pm — Live Online ## Instructors ### Dan Rodney — School Director, Instructor, & Senior Course Developer Dan Rodney has been a designer and web developer for over 20 years, creating coursework and leading innovative training initiatives at Noble Desktop. He teaches courses covering Figma, HTML & CSS, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Power BI. Dan has also been at the forefront of integrating AI into design and business workflows, spearheading Noble Desktop’s latest AI course offerings. In addition to teaching and curriculum development, he writes custom scripts for InDesign (Make Book Jacket, Proper Fraction Pro, and more) and works with automation and AI-driven tools in his free time. You can find Dan on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and at danrodney.com. Learn more about [Dan Rodney's](/dan-rodney) background and expertise. ### Garfield Stinvil — Senior Instructor Garfield is an experienced software trainer with over 16 years of real-world professional experience. He started as a data analyst with a Wall Street real estate investment company & continued working in the professional development department at New York Road Runners Organization before working at Noble. He enjoys bringing humor to whatever he teaches and loves conveying ideas in novel ways that help others learn more efficiently. Since starting his professional training career in 2016, he has worked with several corporate clients including Adobe, HBO, Amazon, Yelp, Mitsubishi, WeWork, Michael Kors, Christian Dior, and Hermès. Outside of work, his hobbies include rescuing & archiving at-risk artistic online media using his database management skills. ### Mourad Kattan — Program Director & Instructor Mourad Kattan is an instructor and Program Director of Business, Finance, & Excel at Noble Desktop, teaching classes and designing courses in Excel, finance, accounting, and financial modeling. Before Noble Desktop, Mourad worked as a financial analyst at Credit Suisse and H/2 Capital Partners. In those positions, he used advanced analytical and financial skills to evaluate a variety of investments. Mourad graduated from the University of Pennsylvania summa cum laude and is part of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. Learn more about [Mourad Kattan's](/mourad-kattan) background and expertise. ### Christophe Drayton — Instructor Christophe is the instructor for the UX & UI Design Certificate, Figma Advanced, and Generative AI courses at Noble Desktop, and the founder and Chief Design Officer of Kaaiind, which specializes in Applied Artificial Intelligence in the Creative field. With over 20 years in Branding, UX Design, and Accessibility across Europe and the US, Christophe has positively impacted the digital experience of a large spectrum of companies, ranging from big data to startups, government entities to nonprofits, both in the private and public sectors. As an Educator, Christophe has led transformative and award-winning UX programs at Thinkful, the City University of New York (CUNY), and the Brooklyn Public Library, which have opened doors for underrepresented groups in tech who have secured roles at top companies like Google, Uber, Citi, and IBM. Most recently, he has developed innovative curricula about AI in the workplace for the University of Phoenix, LinkedIn Learning, and Coursera. Today, he focuses on developing Allie, one of the first AI-powered, patent-pending color-blind safe and WCAG-compliant design system generator, while concluding his 5-year fundamental research on color vision deficiencies in digital environments. Christophe believes in hands-on, practical application of human-centered strategy and ethical and inclusive design. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge to inspire and empower the next generation of designers, especially those entering the field through nontraditional paths. ## Pricing **Tuition:** $675